School Lunch From Around the World

NOTICE: Due to passionate interest in the topic of school lunch, I have just started a blog on just school lunches. Please submit pictures of school lunches from where you live, or any that you might find interesting. The blog is: http://whatsforschoollunch.blogspot.com/ Thanks!

School lunch usually doesn't represent the best that a countries culinary scene has to offer. In America, at least, the food is usually pretty bad. This e-mail is making fun of school lunch, not of the country of origin.

I'll be the first to admit that I am no culinary expert. If the original author of this e-mail was wrong, I apologize. I mean no offense to anyone by posting it, and would personally try every item on every tray. If you know what an item is, let me know, and I will update it.

Update: Mae comments: The white thingies in the Korean lunch is mandoo, kinda like potstickers.

Korea: Kimchi, a fish, some seaweed looking thing, and some colorful mystery items.

Update: valerio comments: Top right of tray is spicy squid. Top right plate is pickled radish.

Japan: Rice, some dry seaweed(?), an orange wedge, some type of coleslaw(?), tofu soup and tea.

India: Rice, curry, and sauce.

Update: rwblake comments: I can state that the "curry" in the school lunch is not a curry. Curry is not Indian, it is a UK phenomena. The yellow soup is a Dal of some kind. Which is a Lentil cooked or ground up into a soup. Update: Ajan comments: The pic or rather the lunch looks like some truck driver's lunch or probably some cheap school out of the blue from one of the corners of India. A normal Indian lunch (...) would be consisting of 3-4 different curries (UK Phenomena), the Dal/Rasam (Soup in American Tongue) kinda thing and a sweet in some places. P.S: The brown stuff is (...) Lady's Finger curry with some Masala.

France: French fries, a piece of baguette, mystery meat, cake, something resembling an omelet, and a cup of something to drink.

Update: froggy commented: 1st: the "omelette stuff" looks like a typical savoury puff pastry (as a first course), with cheese and streaky bacon inside. The meat is a simple burger patty (Salisbury steak, if you prefer). Cheap and very popular for school lunch.

USA: peas, mashed potatoes, some sort of cake with sprinkles, a biscuit and what I believe is a beef pot pie.USA: a roll, mashed potatoes, Salisbury steak, some sort of desert, and something resembling a pile of sauteed onions.

So other countries get real food and the U.S gets whatever slop they find in the trash? Not fair. School lunches disgust me a bit. The second I had to wonder if the 'chicken' I'm eating might actually be human meat/turkey butt is the second I drew the line on school food. Give me a brown-bag lunch any day.

I work in school food service in Georgia and it is amazing how many parents place the majority of blame on school lunches and the lack of physical education in schools. But these same parents pick up Mc Donald's or Taco Bell because they are too busy to cook a healthy meal. Fortunately, my district follows the "Dietary Guidelines for Americans" (which is the Federally mandated standard, despite being outdated). I am curious, how many parents of school aged children actually consult any dietary guidelines in preparation of meals at home. Second, I would love to see the percentage of parents who involve themselves in daily physical activity with their children. C'mon people!!! The time for passing the buck and not taking personal responsibility for the things we are personally responsible for is now!!

I'm not sure if you got the photos from the original source but please, you need to give the photographers credit when possible. If you want to use our photos, it's fine but we should all be credited. Thanks. Here's a link to my orignal Korean School Lunches. You can try finding the matching links/urls for the two photos you used but the set link is good enough.

I am surprised that there are a couple of healthy meals within the food from the USA. I guess if you want you can really eat healthy. My favorite was the organic meal with chicken, veggies and mashed potatoes. Looked good!

I'm from Bangkok, Thailand. The first pic is possible coz they serve this kind of food in expensive private schools or universities.I always have Japanese food like in the picture in my univerity's cafeteria for 120 Baht ($4), cheap right? :)

I had an enjoyable time at this blog post. I have placed several pics at my "school lunch" Pinterest page that should assist in introducing others to this very interesting page. It would be fun to have the opportunity to try all these offerings in one place along with other folks.

The discussion afterwards about the different tastes, food types, cooking styles, etc. would be very interesting. Thanks for the nifty post!!!